Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

I saw the video-game-turned-motion picture flick Max Payne last night. It is a complete and total guy flick and I don’t know too many women who would want to see this movie unless they are Marky Mark Wahlberg fans. Bad news ladies, he doesn’t even take his shirt off … sorry. But, he does a lot of smoldering, so revel in that.

Surprisingly, I never played the video game, but I’ve played similar games and the plot of the movie is one that most movie-goers are familiar with: a good cop’s wife and child are murdered in a seemingly random act of violence; murders are unsolved three years later; distraught cop goes rogue and is hellbent on revenge (what father wouldn’t be); angry cop literally kills everyone that gets in his way and has zero remorse. Not exactly the most original of story lines, but when it comes to a movie based on video game, plot isn’t exactly the point. Usually, the point is lots of action.

Max Payne is a good movie if you know what to expect when you shell out your $7-$10. It’s a special effects-driven film with a lot of CGI (computer-generated imagery), a lot of violence, and even some brief skin. The movie, which is rated R (duh), is not for kids - so don’t take them, no matter how much they beg!

I probably should have waited for this to come out on DVD, but my cousin, a sophomore at Virginia Tech, assured me that it was a good movie worth seeing, so I went to see it. My cousin is 19 and I should have taken that into consideration before trusting his recommendation. Oh well, lesson learned.

I liked this movie for what it was - senseless, vendetta-based violence where the bad guy gets complete and total revenge and all the bad guys get what they deserve. Of course, the aforementioned plot line hits home with me since I’m a parent, and that got me thinking (pipe down peanut gallery) about why this particular plot is so popular in action movies?

I think it is because it’s a theme that almost every human being can sypathize with, empathize with, or at least relate to. We all have family and how many times have you heard someone say, “If anyone ever hurt my family, I’d kill them.” Some of us just say that, but I’m not sure how many people would actually follow through with it - not that they wouldn’t want to, but when it came time to actually take another human being’s life, no matter how evil they were, how many people actually have that in them?

As a parent, I related to Max Payne’s … pain … at the loss of his family. I’m not sure I could go on (much less get away with) the kind of revenge rampage he did in the movie, but I’m pretty sure I’d come up with something.

I wish I could give you a more detailed review, but it’s a pretty simple movie.

For a complete synopsis of the movie, check out IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database). Warning! The synopsis contains spoiler!